glory in this way.  It shows a genuine appreciation of social life quite impossible to an ascetic like the Baptist.  The same appears in the way Jesus allowed his publican apostle to introduce him to his former associates, to the great scandal of the Pharisees; for a feast at which Jesus and a number of publicans were the chief guests accorded not with religion as they understood it.  Jesus, however, seems to have found it a welcome opportunity to seek some of his lost sheep.  The illustrations which he used in his teaching were often his best introduction to the common heart, for they were drawn from the occupations of the people who came to listen; while the aid Jesus gave to his disciples in their fishing showed not only his power, but also his respect for their work, a respect further proved when he called them to be fishers of men.

227.  Beyond this interest in life’s joy and its occupations was that unfailing sympathy with its troubles which drew the multitudes to him.  He was far more than a healer; he studied to rid the people of the idea that he was a mere miracle-monger.  He healed them because he loved them, and he asked of those who sought his help that they too should feel the personal relation into which his power had brought them.  This seems to be in part the significance of his uniform demand for faith.  Doubtless Mary, out of whom he had cast seven devils, and Simon the leper, who seems to have experienced his power to heal, are only single instances of many who found in him far more than at first they sought.  No further record remains of the paralytic who carried off his bed, but left the burden of his sins behind, nor of the woman who loved much because she had been forgiven much, nor of the Samaritan whose life he uncovered that he might be able to give her the living water.  Some who had his help for body or heart may have gone away forgetful, after the fashion of men, but in the company of those who were bold to bear his name after his resurrection there must have been many who could not forget.

228.  Jesus’ interest in common life was genuine, and he entered into it with his heart.  The incident of the anointing of his feet as he sat a guest in a Pharisee’s house shows that he was keenly sensitive to the treatment he received at the hands of men.  He had nothing to say of the slights his host had shown him, until that host began mentally to criticise the woman who was ministering to him in her love and penitence.  Then with quiet dignity Jesus mentioned the several omissions of courtesy which he had noticed since he came in, contrasting the woman’s attention with Simon’s neglect (Luke vii. 36-50).  One of the saddest things about Gethsemane was Jesus’ vain pleading with his disciples for sympathy in his awful hour.  They were too much dazed with awe and fear to lend him their hearts’ support.  He recognized indeed that it was only a weakness of the flesh; yet he craved their friendship’s help, and repeatedly asked